But he’s got a good excuse, not to mention the blessing of head coach David Cutcliffe.

McGrath, who works with the Blue Devils’ linebackers and safeties, will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, lending moral support to his fiance, Olympic diver and Duke medical student Abby Johnston.

“My wife was kind of looking at me when Sam mentioned this and I told her ‘that’s an easy one,’” Cutcliffe said Monday at his team’s preseason media day. “I think she thought I was going to say ‘you can’t leave football practice.’ What I meant is, how appropriate is that for him to be there to see her do this monumental thing?”

“I’m so proud of Abby Johnston,” Cutcliffe said. “Here she is in medical school and qualifies for the Olympics. This young lady has had an incredible summer.”

McGrath

Among the highlights was her engagement to McGrath, especially considering the creative way the young football coach got around to popping the question.

“They were taking a stroll down the beach,” Cutcliffe said. “I hope they don’t get mad at me telling this, but apparently the sunflower is her favorite flower. Suddenly there’s a sunflower in a pot on the beach. They go over there and Abby’s (hospital) name tag is on it and instead of saying Johnston, it says McGrath. And he proposed to her on the beach.

“So they are engaged. She in med school, makes the Olympic team again and becomes engaged, so I am going to let Sam McGrath — as a newly engaged guy — leave practice and go to Rio to watch his fiance compete.”

Johnston is one of 10 athletes with Duke ties competing in Rio. Basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Jeff Capel are also there as part of Team USA while athletic director Kevin White is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“There’s an incredible Duke presence there,” Cutcliffe said. “It makes me proud, certainly as an American. I’m one of those people that get pumped. I’m chanting USA! USA! seeing those young people compete.”